THE TWO MAIN IRISH AIRLINES claim to be operating at near full capacity this evening as they work to clear the backlog of thousands of passengers stranded both here and abroad following the cold weather across Europe.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair have both been operating at nearly full capacity today as Irish airports escape any further snowfall and work through the lists of flights cancelled and deferred from previous days, though not all flights have been operating due to airport closures on the continent.
Ryanair is to operate 14 extra flights tomorrow to and from Dublin – to and from Brussels Charleroi, Poznan, Paris Beauvais, Edinburgh and London Stansted – in an effort to get stranded passengers home before Christmas.
They cannot operate extra flights on Christmas Eve, however, with the full fleet in operation on those dates already.
Aer Lingus is leasing aircraft from Aer Arann to add capacity to UK routes, RTÉ News reports, and will be operating an Airbus A330 on its Paris route to carry extra passengers.
Freezing temperatures in Ireland will continue up until Christmas Day, the Irish Times reports, though snow showers will give way to drier weather which will help to alleviate any major transport headaches.
Bus Éireann is operating a near-full service, with only a handful of cancellations and route curtailments on major routes this evening, while Irish Rail say they are still operating a full service, although passengers may be delayed by works to clear snow from some points.
Dublin Bus is largely operating a full service, though some stops are unreachable and adjusted routes are in place. Nitelink services will operate tonight, however, an improvement on last night when no such services could be offered. The Luas network is unaffected.
Up-to-date weather and transport information can be found on the following websites:
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